jessical-30977 1960. Panavision. Harry Waxman. We need to talk about the cinematography in this film, because OH MY! The shot composition, the lighting, the movement, I could go on! It's a visually stunning masterpiece - not even talking about the story! Which is also fantastic. Treat yourself and watch a fun family adventure that just happens to be eye candy!

SnoopyStyle The Robinsons are on a ship escaping the Napoleonic War to New Guinea. The crew abandoned ship when pirate Kuala pursued them. Father Robinson (John Mills), mother (Dorothy McGuire), and their sons Fritz, Ernst, and little Francis are alone on the ship. They survive a storm shipwrecking on a tropical island. There are wild animals including a tiger, zebras, and even an elephant. They gather supplies and farm animals from the ship. There is adventure galore. Fritz and Ernst discover the pirates holding captive Captain Moreland and his granddaughter Roberta who is pretending to be boy Bertie.This is a classic Disney. There is plenty of grand tropical adventures. The cinematography looks good. It is clean family fun. While accuracy is not expected, the zebras and hyenas are annoyingly out of place. The movie is also a bit too long at over two hours. Modern sensibility does interfere with enjoyment sometimes.

TxMike Even though I was a teenager in 1960 I don't recall seeing this movie back then. We didn't go to the movies often and when I did, it was usually a "western" with Roy Rogers or Gene Autry. Anyway now it is available as a Netflix streaming movie and that is how I viewed it. The picture and sound are just fine for such an old movie.The basic story is a husband and wife want to get away from the rat race and are traveling by ship from their home in Switzerland to New Guinea to start a new life. But before they arrive they are caught in a bad storm and are shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island. The captain and crew must have seen it coming and deserted early, leaving the family, with three sons, to fend for themselves.They do the best they can to salvage useful items and supplies from the wrecked ship and set about building their new home. It ends up being a quite elaborate 3-cottage cluster in a very large tree with nicely spread limbs. The family finds a number of animals, a Tiger, a small elephant, and several others that lead them to think it might be a land bridge, so they build a small boat and set sail to try to go around the island. Another shipwreck and an encounter with a band of pirates results in their rescuing a teenage girl as her grandpa is captured. In the end the pirates return, the Family Robinson work hard with improvised defenses to hold off the pirates and, when it seems the pirates will prevail a ship arrives and starts shooting at the pirates and their ship to save the day.When it was all over the parents decided they wanted to stay in this "New Switzerland" with the prospects of additional settlers, but the two older boys would likely return to Europe, one of them with the girl, for an education and a new start.

flagpants John Mills was a fine actor, but in this he's a bit like a rocket engine attached to hot-air balloon in this.I'm a fan of old movies, but found this example to be a pretty poor one and not recommended for anyone interested in giving old classics a shot.It's certainly not short of budget or "adventure". Things are happening constantly. Including the most annoying soundtrack I can ever recall. With peculiar incidental music that accompanies absolutely every tiny thing that happens along the way. Constantly.What I found most disturbing, by today's standards, was the many examples of animal cruelty in the film. Including a tiger being harassed by 2 great dane dogs (potentially lethal for the dogs and distressing for the tiger), riding an ostrich and a zebra trapped in mud. All done with real performing animals.Couldn't be rated as a true old classic in my opinion. Probably only thought of fondly by people who saw it when they were young.